Sustainability Current Events: Sustainable Products & Services

Ashley Uyeta 

As society progresses, more and more people are becoming increasingly aware of the different sustainable products and services that are emerging in different market places and industries. People are starting to realize how detrimental our habits are when it comes to our planet. With never ending news about different catastrophes that are happening because of the impacts that we create. It's only right that we start fighting back, pushing for better options to choose from when it comes to buying commodities from different companies, brands, industries, etc. Newer generations are creating a push towards companies that improve the environment rather than destroy it. We shouldn't be forced to watch our world go down without a say. "Public awareness of the environmental impact of packaging waste, especially from single-use plastics, has reached an all-time high, according to a McKinsey report" (Hobbs). 

So how can companies not only make products or services that are sustainable, but also improve upon them? What even really is a sustainable product or service? 

The simple definition for sustainability is the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. If you apply that to our society and the environments around us, we are nowhere near being sustainable. We, as a society have blow through our natural resources plus more, creating monumental ecological damage,  that our environment cannot even begin to regenerate. So what does it mean for a product or service to be sustainable? 

"For a product to be sustainable, it must be possible to produce and/or consume it in a way that doesn't result in harm or destruction. If the production of a product requires nonrenewable resources, damages the environment, or results in harm to individuals or society, it is unlikely to be considered sustainable" (Cyrpus). 

Criteria for a product or service to be considered sustainable: 

• Doesn't deplete natural, nonrenewable resources 
• Doesn't directly harm the environment 
• Wasn't made in a socially irresponsible way

Looking at the small list of criteria needed to create a sustainable product or service, it doesn't seem like it takes much to make one. So why are companies having such a hard time producing something sustainable for consumers? 

Change is one of the hardest things to implement into life. There's this phrase, "old habits die hard." It hard to motivate and push towards a different direction after going one way for so long. But this habit of contaminating our surrounding environments with toxins, chemicals and waste, is something that needs to go, and fast. " An estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic - the equivalent of nearly 90 aircraft carriers - enter the ocean every year. Because 99 percent of plastic is made from fossil fuels, it's also a significant contributor to climate change" (Hobbs). 

"Most plastic waste is never reused or recycled and ends up in a landfill (40 percent) or an incinerator (25 percent)" (Hobbs). Companies like Unilever, Adidas, Native, and many more are creating newer products that will replace the old ones and create less waste. But how do they do it? While companies may be following in the same directions, are they moving fast enough? 

According to Bill Hobbs, author from Inc., there are five steps to start sourcing more sustainably for companies. 

• See where the company can have the greatest impact 
• Survey their consumers
• Revamp their packaging 
• Know where materials come from 
• Find the right partners

These steps seem to a basic guideline for what companies can do to start creating more sustainable products. But just because a company produces a sustainable or non-sustainable product, doesn't mean that the overall company is sustainable or not. A company could potentially put out a sustainable product to appease consumers, showing that they are following trends of society with their one product. That doesn't always indicate that the company as a whole has sustainable practices for everything that they do. The same goes the other way though, a company might end up producing a product that is unsustainable, but their main goals and values align with being a sustainable company.

So what is society truly looking for? A part of me says that society is pushing towards a sustainable company with sustainable products and services, but we've been mislead plenty of times before. It seems like some companies can get away with being less sustainable and other companies can't escape the scrutiny. How can we really tell if a company is greenwashing or not? It's all based on our own perceptions and the perceptions of others. And perceptions create barriers that are hard to break through, especially for companies who want to do the right thing, after committing so much wrong in their past. So, again, what is society truly looking for from these companies and sustainability? 

References

Cyprus, J. (2020, August 2). What makes a product sustainable? Earth911. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://earth911.com/business-policy/what-makes-a-product-sustainable/

Hobbs, B. (2020, July 23). Why (and how) to make your business more sustainable. Inc.com. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/bill_hobbs/why-and-how-to-make-your-business-more-sustainable.html